Dr Who's Space Adventure Book

Dr Who's Space Adventure Book

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28 page, stapled, softcover, colour

Dr Who's Space Adventure Book was a 1967 magazine published as a part of the Doctor Who/Dalek licensing agreement enjoyed by Wall's Ice Cream. It was somewhat like a "mini-annual", in that it was comprised of some games, some diagrams and a story. The nine-page story, Daleks Invade Zaos, dominated the volume.

The book was specifically tied into the then-new Wall's Sky Ray ice lollies — torpedo-shaped, raspberry-and-orange-flavoured, frozen confections on a stick. Television and print advertising stressed the importance of collecting cards included with each Sky Ray. These cards could then be used to help illustrate Daleks Invade Zaos, or to play a primitive card game called Space Raiders Battle Game.

Contents

The book began by attempting to explain the relationship between the Doctor — who appeared to be the then-current Second Doctor — and a group of Dalek fighters known as the "Sky Ray Space Raiders". Since these apparent humans used the Sky Ray Space Raider, a sleek "deep space" craft to travel about space and fight Daleks, the book then devoted several pages to diagramming and detailing the performance of that space craft. Naturally, the Sky Ray Space Raider bore a strong resemblance to the Sky Ray ice lolly itself.

Next up were a few colouring pages, one giving a view of the interior of the TARDIS, while others looked at the exterior and interior of Daleks.

These activity pages were followed by a single page feature called "Dr. Who's Mind Mesmeriser". This was an optical trick that confused the eye depending on how the page was moved.

Space Raiders Battle Game was essentially a variant of Snakes and Ladders. A double-page spread within the book was devoted to providing a course for contestants to follow. Depending on the squares on which they landed, players would be instructed to draw a card from one of two piles of cards. The number on that card then forced additional play, depending on the specific instructions in the rules. The first contestant to the end of the course was declared the winner.

Instructional annotation revealed that there were 36 total cards which could be found in Sky Ray ice lolly packaging.

A full nine pages was devoted to the prose story Daleks Invade Zaos. In the story, the Second Doctor helped the Sky Ray Space Raiders defend Zaos and Earth. Each of the nine pages had a space for four specific cards, which illustrated the story as it progressed. However, the cards didn't reveal any additional narrative content.

Each book cost 1 shilling — or 1/20th of a pound — in old money. Each Sky Ray cost 6 old pence, or half a shilling. There were 36 unique cards associated with this book. So, if you got extremely lucky and got a different card in each Sky Ray you bought, it would've cost you a minimum of 19 shillings — or very nearly a whole, old pound — to complete the book and card collection.